Premier League 2023/2024

[Marty]

Football punditry in the UK is hilarious. Bloke who lasted 6 games in League 2 after hammering his players is tonight lead pundit on MOTD 2. Granted he had a good playing career but where’s the consequence for being a horrible prick.

I don't like calling Scholes a horrible prick when he's said that he didn't pursue a managerial career because he wanted to look after his severely autistic daughter.

The only reason he took the Oldham job was that it was local and he knew the ownership at the time. The club was in free fall before he went there.

Sure he had a nasty side on the pitch but that's by the by for me.

 

[JSpurs1]

I don't like calling Scholes a horrible prick when he's said that he didn't pursue a managerial career because he wanted to look after his severely autistic daughter.

The only reason he took the Oldham job was that it was local and he knew the ownership at the time. The club was in free fall before he went there.

Sure he had a nasty side on the pitch but that's by the by for me.

I’m talking about Troy Deeney mate.

 

[SlotBadger]

I don't like calling Scholes a horrible prick when he's said that he didn't pursue a managerial career because he wanted to look after his severely autistic daughter.

I really hope he doesn't nibble her toenails as well.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Not the ideal result for us; draw would have been better. Even a Villa win would have been ok as Villa’s squad is tiring and they are still in Europe which will tire them more. Not sure how much you can read into that result as AV have only beaten ManU 5 times in the PL era. Nevertheless ManU are on a run of 4 wins and they don’t have the hardest run in except maybe for the last month of the season. We’ve got a 6 points buffer and a superior GD but we can’t afford to make any slip ups We have to win our next 2games which are both at home and then put Villa to the sword.

If Villa had won they would have been 2 pts ahead of us and we have to go there soon. We also have a few difficult games towards the end of the season. Away to West Ham(always difficult for us even though they are poor at the moment), Newcastle and Liverpool. Home to Arsenal and City..
We have to aim for top 4 even though it is highly likely that top 5 will all get CL.
Roy Keane said yesterday that Spurs will be worrying about United 6 points behind. It is a fact that they were 6 points behind us on Friday so nothing has changed. Did make me smile. Worried about a United team who are just getting by in games. Villa far superior yesterday but couldn’t score, similar to when they beat us and we didn’t take our chances.

 

[theShiznit]

It's not about winding up, it's just banter and a laugh.

Like i said, when Gary Neville first said about coaches just copying Pep, Ange was not in attendance.
That was Neville's belief.

Only when Ange went pitch side with him and made a joke about it did it then enter the realms of "banter" ( hate that word...)

 

[Marty]

I’m talking about Troy Deeney mate.

That's what I get for not watching

 

[Riandor]

Top 5 will get CL anyway.

Currently those 2 extra slots are going to Germany and Italy respectively. England lost the initiative on that when United and Newcastle went out.
We really need City and Arsenal to have strong showings in the knock-out stages to have a chance of regaining that slot.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Currently those 2 extra slots are going to Germany and Italy respectively. England lost the initiative on that when United and Newcastle went out.
We really need City and Arsenal to have strong showings in the knock-out stages to have a chance of regaining that slot.

"we" just need to focus on finishing top-4 for a CL slot, and let Villa and/or United worry about UEFA coefficients...

 

[philll]

You know Ange made that joke first right?

No he didn't. Neville said it in the commentary when we played United at home, he was (ignorantly) talking about how Ange's use of full backs was just "copying Pep" and then some Spurs fan on Twitter did a whole thread calling Neville out and explaining how Ange's system worked and how he was already deploying it when he was in Japan.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Yeah I wonder why everyone has become so worried about Utd all of a sudden?

They had a pretty bad start to the season whilst we on fire, but then we hit a rough patch (for obvious reasons) so by as early as match 15 they were on the same points as us. After 20 matches the gap was up to 8 points. Now it’s 6.

In the last six matches, whilst they have apparently come into this great form, they have taken 13 points whilst we’ve taken 11. And one of those matches was us versus them at Old Trafford.

So they’re six points behind, are in apparently scintillating form but have only taken two points more than us in their last six including their home advantage when they played us. At that rate it will take them eighteen matches to make up the difference.

It’s just the name that makes people think they can do something . If they were called Brighton nobody would take any notice.

 

[rightwayup]

I reckon those top 3 will nervously be looking over their shoulder. We are still in touch and we have been winning matches without clicking as a team. That run of difficult matches starting end of April could help us as it would allow us to do some serious damage to our rivals who might have their eye on bigger things. We just need to keep up the pressure.

Whatever happens this season is a breath of fresh air.

 

[tommo84]

Yeah I wonder why everyone has become so worried about Utd all of a sudden?

They had a pretty bad start to the season whilst we on fire, but then we hit a rough patch (for obvious reasons) so by as early as match 15 they were on the same points as us. After 20 matches the gap was up to 8 points. Now it’s 6.

In the last six matches, whilst they have apparently come into this great form, they have taken 13 points whilst we’ve taken 11. And one of those matches was us versus them at Old Trafford.

So they’re six points behind, are in apparently scintillating form but have only taken two points more than us in their last six including their home advantage when they played us. At that rate it will take them eighteen matches to make up the difference.

To add another layer of context to this, most seasons it requires 70+ points to get in the top 4. So let’s assume that 70 points is the target. We need only another 23 points from 14 games to get that. 7 wins and 2 draws does that. Very achievable, and a drop off in our form despite us now having key players back. If we get to 70 points, the current GD advantage we have over Utd (+15) makes it likely that they’ll need 71 to finish above us. That leaves them needing 30 points from their remaining 14 games.

To do that they need to take their form from their last 6 games and keep that going for the remainder of the season. That’s not unheard of, but their performances haven’t been as good as the results over those last 6 games, so I still think they would need to improve further to keep that form going. If we keep our form going (and tbf our results have been better than the performances too lately) then they won’t get near us.

 

[HNIM]

To add another layer of context to this, most seasons it requires 70+ points to get in the top 4. So let’s assume that 70 points is the target. We need only another 23 points from 14 games to get that. 7 wins and 2 draws does that. Very achievable, and a drop off in our form despite us now having key players back. If we get to 70 points, the current GD advantage we have over Utd (+15) makes it likely that they’ll need 71 to finish above us. That leaves them needing 30 points from their remaining 14 games.

To do that they need to take their form from their last 6 games and keep that going for the remainder of the season. That’s not unheard of, but their performances haven’t been as good as the results over those last 6 games, so I still think they would need to improve further to keep that form going. If we keep our form going (and tbf our results have been better than the performances too lately) then they won’t get near us.

Four times in the last 11 years, the fifth place team has had 70+ points: Chelsea in 2018-19 (70), Spurs in 2012-13 (72), Arsenal in 2013-14 (72), and Liverpool in 2017-18 (75). 70 is too low a bar IMO. The league has gotten very top heavy.

It's going to be a pretty close-run thing, I think.

 

[tommo84]

Four times in the last 11 years, the fifth place team has had 70+ points: Chelsea in 2018-19 (70), Spurs in 2012-13 (72), Arsenal in 2013-14 (72), and Liverpool in 2017-18 (75). 70 is too low a bar IMO. The league has gotten very top heavy.

I agree but that only furthers my point. I used 70/71 points as that’s where Utd will land even if they continue with their form from the last 6 games which is no sure thing as it’s their best form of the season. The ex-Utd pundits who have suddenly piped up about 4th place seem to be expecting both for Utd to hit a level of form we haven’t seen from them under Ten Hag, and for both Villa and Spurs to drop off considerably.

 

[luRRka]

This will be a big miss for villa

 

[rambu]

Tough luck...Mings and Buendia were already out for season with similiar injuries this year.

 

[purplemonkey]

Kamara is an important player for them, but they are starting to look stale and this might be an opportunity for them to freshen things up. They seem reasonably well stocked in midfield and if the likes of Ramsey, Tielemans and Zaniolo get more minutes it could be the boost they need going forwards. I remember the turning point in our first season qualifying for the CL was when we lost Palacios and had to move Modric inside. I wouldn’t write them off.

 

[Moorpheus19]

Palace are the sort of team that, if they go down they won't be back up again for a good while.

 

[tobi]

I was about to say that a foul (the Brazilian was fouled) on the edge of the area but what a strike!

 

[jonnyp]

What a hit!